Why No Latino Appeal?

September 4, 2008

In the middle of Rudy’s litany last night, he rhetorically asked, what has Obama accomplished? He replied, “nada.” The moment stuck, because it was one of the few occasions that I’d heard Spanish at either convention. This is quite a turnaround. For the last few conventions you couldn’t go five minutes without a gringo politicians gamely attempting to recite slogans in Spanish. And it’s also quite a turnaround in conventional wisdom. A few months back everyone was talking about the Latino vote. And it’s strange that neither side has tried to press for an edge with Nevada, Colorado, and New Mexico playing such a prominent role. I don’t have much of theory to explain this. Perhaps last year's immigration debate spooked both candidates. It clearly spooked McCain.